Comcast turns on 50 mbps in San Francisco, Peninsula

Speed lovers in San Francisco and on the Peninsula can get their fix from Comcast starting today.

The cable provider is expanding its local “Wideband” launch, increasing the number of customers who can get up to 50 megabits per second for downloads. Residents in San Francisco and Peninsula cities from Los Altos up to South San Francisco are now able to access the higher speed tiers. (Full list of cities below)

Comcast last month first rolled out the upgraded service in the Bay Area, covering much of San Jose and Silicon Valley, Contra Costa County and the Tri-Valley, and the Monterey area. The rest of the Bay Area will receive upgrades later this year.

This is part of Comcast’s jump to DOCSIS 3.0 technology, which greatly increases its download and upload speeds. With DOCSIS 3.0, residential customers can now get the Extreme 50 tier, which offers 50 mbps down/10 mbps up for $139.95/month. Another speedy but more affordable tier is the Ultra, which offers 22 mbps down/5 mbps up for $62.95/month when bundled with another service.

This is a nice boost for the Bay Area, where technophiles gripe about pokey download speeds. This means you can download a high-def movie in 16 minutes or a standard definition movie in 5 minutes using Extreme 50.